Lesson from James (1&2)

SEP. 6, 2026Lessons from James (1)"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." Jas 1:22 NKJVThe book of James has 108 verses, and it outlines how we can put our faith into action.It was written by Jesus' half-brother, the natural-born son of Mary and Joseph.Apparently, James became a believer as a result of the resurrection. Paul said that after Jesus rose from the grave, "he appeared to James, then to all the apostles" (1Co 15:7 NIV). Somewhere, privately and personally, the risen Lord met with James, and His little brother's life was never the same. After his encounter with his older brother, who was the victorious-over-death Godman, James grew in faith and became the undisputed leader of the Jerusalem church. The apostle Paul referred to him as a pillar of the church (see Gal 2:9), and tradition tells us that James was so devoted to prayer that he was given the nickname "camel knees" because of the calluses resulting from the hours he spent on his knees. Today we are 2,000 years removed from James' writing, yet his letter remains as relevant to us as the Internet's morning news. The central message of his book is contained in these words: "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James addresses our biggest challenge: practicing with our lives what we proclaim with our lips.In every paragraph, he reminds us that when we are walking in step with the Holy Spirit, we will not be wearing out the seat of our pants, but the soles of our shoes. We will put shoe leather to what we say we believe and be "doers of the word."Lessons from James  Walking in step with the Holy SpiritSEP. 7, 2026Lessons from James (2)"A doer...will be blessed in what he does." Jas 1:25 NKJVNorth of Israel and teeming with aquatic life of many kinds, the Sea of Galilee is a beautiful blue. South of Israel is the Dead Sea, and it's called "Dead" for a good reason: There's no life in its stagnant water.What makes these two bodies of water so different? First, the Sea of Galilee has an inlet: the Jordan River flows into it. On its southern shore, the Sea of Galilee also has an outlet: water flows through the Great Rift Valley. Like the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea has an inlet: the Jordan flows into it. But the Dead Sea has no outlet; it takes in but does not give out. This is the theme of the book of James. Vibrant believers not only take in, but they also give out. They put the word they receive (input) into action (output): "If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (Jas 1:23-25 NKJV). James warns us not to become so heavenly-minded that we are no earthly good; that it's not enough to read the Scriptures, but we must also look for practical ways to put them into practice each day. His message could be summed up in the famous Nike slogan: "Just do it!"Lessons from James Heavenly minded-but no earthly goodShare This DevotionalSend us Fan MailSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!